Can Time Really Heal? (by wrongturntaken) - comments

[h&a-girl]

So good! I love it. Update soon

[whispered_envy]

That's such a mean thing to write! Poor Aden!

[solaris]

Oooooooooooooohhhhhhhhhhhhh, cryptic!

I'll be checking back later!

[xknomex]

yay you are goin to update

[wrongturntaken]

Here as promised, i don't think i'll be able to do another update until tuesday although i might be able to squeeze a small one in tomorrow morning. I'll do my best but i hope you like this one, thanks for everyone's comments yet again. I love them!

Chapter 7.

Belle was walking along the beach and looking out to the sea; where the sun had started to lower in the sky and boats could be seen as shadows in the distance; clearly getting closer ready to harbour. She took her shoes off and walked along the edge of the sea feeling the water brush against her ankles hoping the feeling would wash away her confusion and she would be able to think clearly. The fresh air was helping but she couldn't take her mind off Aden. She didn't know if this was a bad thing though as he was the one who had told her to think things through.

As she walked she saw a figure in the distance walking purposefully towards her, as he got closer she recognised him, she really didn't need this right now.

"What do you want?" she asked angrily as Gavin approached her.

"Who said i wanted anything, Belle. I'm just taking a stroll on the beach," Gavin answered annoyingly.

"Yeah, right." Belle stopped walking and turned out towards the sea folding her arms as she did so, hoping the sound of the waves would drown out what Gavin was bound to say next.

"Since i have you here, maybe you could answer a few questions for me?" he pushed.

"I'm not telling you anything, Gavin," came Belle's robotic response.

"Come on, Belle..."

"...hey!" came a different male voice from behind her, this one she was glad to hear as she turned around and saw Aden with a look of calmed anger on his face.

Gavin smiled wryly, "Aden Jefferies, the man himself."

Aden gave Gavin an evil glare but ignored his comment, instead turning to Belle, "Are you okay?"

Belle nodded.

"...wait a minute! Don't tell me you still talk to this guy?" Gavin said practically laughing.

Belle stayed silent, it wasn't technicallly true that she still talked to Aden. They'd had one conversation since the court case but she wasn't about to let Gavin know that.

"What do you want, mate?" Aden said turning to Gavin.

"What any good journalist wants... answers."

Aden sighed and looked up at the sky as though he was contemplating something.

"Are you going to give them to me...?" Gavin pushed. "... i mean after everything that happened, and after the court case... no one knows what really happened to you, why you did what you did?"

When Gavin had mentioned the court case; Belle had seen a glimmer of something in Aden's eye that she hadn't seen in a long time. Hopelessness, despair, hatred, anger but mostly it was just cold. It was the part of him that she knew existed before everything happened but she had never been afraid of it til the day he had held the three of them hostage. ...and somehow she knew not to be afraid of it now, for he could never forget his past entirely. It was something he had to live with, and now, she realised, so would she.

Aden had seen something flash across Belle's face as Gavin brought up the court case aswell. An emotion he knew well, he'd felt it for years and had fought to hide it, as Belle did now. He had seen an incredible look of guilt flash across her face. He wished he could make her understand that what had happened to him hadn't been her fault, she had done everything she could have done, the outcome would have been the same no matter what. Eventually he hoped he would be able to convince her of that, he knew soon he would have to talk about everything that had happened to him since court but he wasn't so sure he was ready for that yet.

Both Aden and Belle thought back to the court case:

"To the charge of attempted murder, how do you plead?" The judge asked Aden as he stood dressed in the suit he had been dreading wearing because it represented what this day would mean. It wasn't so much the outcome that was worrying Aden, it was more that he'd have to tell the whole court room something he'd only ever had the confidence to choose to once. Admittedly it was a closed courtroom so there was no public, but there were lawyers and jurors.

"Not guilty," Aden answered and he saw that the jurors were looking at him trying to sus out his character to see if he was really capable of what he was being charged with.

"...and to the charge of kidnapping?"

"Not guilty on the grounds of temporary insanity," Aden answered hearing the words fall from his mouth as though from a stranger.

"Very well," the Judge said and the court was made to sit. "Miss Bellingham, may you present your first witness."

"I know this is unorthodox but i feel it is right for my first witness to be the accused; Aden Jefferies," Morag told the court and Aden stood up to take his place at the stand.

"Mr Jefferies... what would you say the relationship with your father has been like throughout your life?"

"Uh... it was okay i guess, good when i was playing footy, we had our fights but generally we worked things out," Aden told her unsurely with constant glances to the jury. He wished he could see Belle but she wasn't allowed to be in the courtroom until she'd given her testimony.

"So how was it that you ended up wanting your father dead?"

Aden took a deep breath, he felt like he was about to hyperventilate even though Morag had been preparing him for this for weeks.

"My mother died when i was 8 and then my dad started drinking," Aden started and then took a pause. "...eventually social services decided that he couldn't look after me and my brothers so my grandfather moved in with us... ...I never really liked him anyway but once he moved in..." Aden really didn't know how to put the next bit even though he'd thought about it so many times. "...i didn't really understand what was going on because i was the youngest... i knew he did it to my brothers too but I knew he did it to me more often... i think because it was easier..."

"...did what?" Morag asked softly as he had not yet told the jury even though comprehension had dawned on some of their faces.

Aden looked at the jury took a breath and answered, "...abused me..."

Morag could sense he wouldn't be able to say it, "...sexually?" she added for him.

He nodded and saw the look of shock dawn on more of the jurors faces although some of them remained stony.

"What has this got to do with your father?" Morag asked.

"I always blamed his drinking for what happened."

"Then why do what you did, now?"

"...because he told me something whih meant that he not only knew what was going on, he also knew that it would probably happen before it did, he could of stopped it," Aden finished sadly.

Morag continued to ease Aden's story out of him before the prosecution tore him apart.

The court case continued for three days. Rachel had been called to the stand and her original opinion of Aden's breakdown had been used by the prosecution to plant doubt in the jurors minds. Larry had been called up and had told the jury his story which may have worked in Aden's favour.

When Belle had taken the stand, Aden could not hold back the one or two tears that escaped him and that he quickly brushed away. He couldn't believe he was putting her through this, especially considering how much he loved her and how much she'd done for him. Belle had seen them though as she repeated the same movements. She had done her best to try and show the jury that Aden was not a bad person, he'd just been through hell.

"Ladies and gentlemen of the Jury," the prosecution said during his questioning of Belle. "Had this girl not been there, Mr Jefferies would have surely killed his father. His attempt only failed because of her."

"Objection!" Morag said standing up. "We are not here to discuss what might have happened had events turned out differently. There is no way of knowing that had Miss Taylor not stopped him then maybe his father would have or even himself. We have the facts of the situation and the facts are that Aden Jefferies to did not directly try to kill his father."

*

On the last day the jury had come back in to the room, having made their decision. Everyone stood up to await the verdict.

"How do you find the defendant?" the Judge asked.

"On the charge of attempted murder, we find the defendant... not guilty."

A collective sigh of relief could be heard from around the room.

"On the charge of kidnapping... we find the defendant... guilty."

"Kidnapping is a serious crime," the judge began. '...the jury obviously feel that you were able to think clearly when holding these two women; who were obviously traumatised by your actions.You held them against their will and for that, i am sentencing you to 3 months in prison."

I was so unsure whether to do this plot line or not but i wanted a twist to the story so this is the one i've given you. I hope you liked it! I do realise the court scene is very unrealistic. lol

Sneak peek:

"Something about this just isn't sitting right with me, Ross," Morag told her husband when they had gone back to Roman's after court.

"What do you mean, love? I know you feel guilty but you did everything you could," Ross tried to reassure his wife as Roman sat quietly holding a bottle of beer thinking about how he had been so focused on Nicole that he had been oblivious to the fact that Aden would need more help to recover than to just move out of his father's house.

"Exactly!" Morag exclaimed. "I did everything right, and usually that would have been enough. I'm not going to let this lie, Ross, so you may aswell agree to help me."

"Help you?"

"I'm going to need your police contacts if i'm going to find out what's going on."

Edited September 7, 2008 by wrongturntaken

[adelle]

Great update!!

3 months prison :o Poor Aden!

Can't wait for more

[xknomex]

OMG poor Aden!

looking foward to more

[zzazzb]

ohhh, and the plot thickens

[Lise]

That was a great update!

Does Morag think that the police did something wrong?

[whispered_envy]

I thought that was a pretty good description of the court case! Well done!